


Biological Imperative

by astraladversary



Category: Prototype (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, mentally ill oc, nonbinary OC, transgender headcanon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-05
Packaged: 2019-10-04 22:45:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17313257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astraladversary/pseuds/astraladversary
Summary: In New York City,  a biological infection cultivates into a full-blown apocalypse that takes man's greatest fears and evolves it into something beyond life and death. The U.S. Military wages war with a hivemind of monsters, and the two factions tear the city apart.  Meanwhile, Julian Oak is a troubled young artist with plans to visit his friend Layla Tan, an intern working at Gentek. Suddenly at fate's mercy, Julian is thrown into a web of intrigue full of militaristic hazards, unspeakable horrors, and Public Enemy Number One: Alex Mercer. Unfortunately, he may be the only thing that can help Julian.





	1. memory in death

**Author's Note:**

> this is actually a story ive been working on and revising for years. a true testament to how much i adore alex mercer and the first prototype.
> 
> anyway this is mostly canon compliant with my ocs inserted into it and also my own little revisions. i plan to include james heller but this mostly ignores prototype 2

My name is Julian Oak, and I never meant for any of this to happen.

Like always, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. This time, it costed my life.

There's no way I could go back to being who I once was. Nothing can go back to being what it once was. Not for me, not for any of us. When I try to close my eyes and dream, I can only think of moments that I will relive forever.

They say I've become a killer, a monster, or even a terrorist. I never wanted to be any of these things.


	2. Chapter 2

In the beginning, I was trapped on a plane with hipsters.

I had never gone to New York before, and I couldn't exactly say I was anticipating the experience. Nothing excited me at the time... But I was curious thinking about whatever adventures New York could bring me. It ought to be exciting, right? Huge city that every blockbuster movie used as the setting? I laughed a bit to myself. Right, well, of course, in those movies, New York ended up getting destroyed by collateral damage. But there was no way that brand of excitement would happen. Or so I thought.

Julian sat impatiently in the seat, staring at the sheet of bright clouds underneath him from out the window. They had to be landing soon, right? The sooner he could get out of the air, the better. There was always this fear that crept upon him whenever he thought about airports and airplanes. The dangers of traveling. The mechanical whir of the nauseating engines. The chance that maybe, the plane would go up in smoke...

"Hey, excuse me?" A timid voice called from the left of Julian.

When Julian looked at her, he saw that she had qualities that one would attribute to an angel. One that he thought HAD to be a murderer or drug addict or something, because nobody who looked that well-adjusted and wholesome was actually a good person. "Excuse me," she repeated. "What time is it?"

"'Bout seven fifty AM." He responded mechanically.

"Thank you." The girl smiled, and had begun fishing for something in her bag. She pulled out a piece of candy, and offered it towards Julian like he was a kid on Halloween. He must've been staring in awe for a while, 'cause she looked at him like a kicked puppy when he didn't take it.

"Did I do something wrong?" She asked.

Julian shook his head with a grin.

"No, no, sorry. Thanks, by the way." He said as he took the piece of candy, unwrapped it, and popped it into his mouth. She seemed satisfied after that, so the boy leaned back into his seat, and looked out of the little window. More clouds. More thoughts of crashing and dying. He closed his eyes.

He was going to visit his friend in Manhattan for a week. And after that was done? He was gonna fuck off right back to his Seattle apartment. Or maybe, to his grandma's, if his roommates decided to finally kick him out once they had a reminder of what life was like without him. Mentally, he considered himself a hassle. Psychiatric care and therapy took up a lot of his time, and the understanding of those around him. Educationally and economy, he left much to be desired. He never got along with his professors when he tried to attend school. While he was willing to hold down jobs, his passion involved art. Much to the chagrin of his more practical roommates. And to his own.

Dealing with bullshit like, 'I'm not gonna pay you, but you'll get some great exposure' and all.

At least Layla has a really good career going on for her. Or at least, an internship. She got paid for it, luckily enough, Julian thought. She lived in Queens but worked at some genetic research company in Manhattan. It had a pretty sci-fi name, but it eluded him. 

Soon, the plane was going to land, and he let out a breath of relief. That is, until someone behind him decided to open his mouth about something inane.

"New York's gonna be a drag, right Julian?"

Julian almost, almost forgot the nuisance that accompanied him from Seattle. 

Julian turned his head around and looked over his seat to see a guy with a scarf around his scraggly beard, and a bun in his hair. There was a girl with a septum piercing clinging onto his arm. Oh, her hair was blue this week. Waldo and Flora were their names. And getting stuck with them sure was an... experience.

They were two of his roommates, who just so happened to be visiting New York for different reasons. They supposedly had enough money between the two to rent their own hotel room, but Julian wouldn't be surprised if they came knocking on Layla's door in three days. He should have never told Paola, their most cautionary - and chatty- roommate, the address of where he was going. 

Julian forced a smile. "What makes you think that, man?" Better to humor them now instead of suffering some consequences later. For a bunch of artsy hipsters, they had a merciless wrath.

"Oh, man, you know. I don't like the city. It's full of people who don't get it." Waldo responded. He pensively looked out of the plane window. "Yeah, I actually care about the environment." If he weren't on the plane, he probably would have had a cigarette in his mouth too.

You're literally from Seattle, Julian thought with a dimple above his brow. 

"That's great for you." Julian ended up saying.

"So, how about you? What kinda stuff have you been up to?"

Julian paused. Every time Waldo asked something, it was some sort of test. 

"Well... I cleaned up the streets a bit last week. Lots of trash in the city, y'know." Julian responded. "I donated some to the EDF," he added. It was true, but he had no way of knowing whether or not it was the 'right' answer for the insufferable hipster.

"Weak, Julian." Waldo remarked, shaking his head. "They're just another big corporation. They're in cahoots with the big hats, man. They aren't solving anything."

"You're so blind. You don't get the real idea." Flora's squeaky yet grumbling voice was heard as she shook her head in shame as she so often did to anyone Waldo was targeting.

Julian faced away from them and stared sullenly ahead, sucking hard on the bit of hard candy the nice blond girl had given him earlier.

How wonderful.

Meanwhile, at Julian's destination, Layla Tan was sending a text every ten minutes. They all read some variation of, "Are you here yet?", or "Text me back ASAP, okay? xP". She wasn't the best person when it came to waiting. She had a lot of plans for dear Julian! Most of them would consist of boring his ass off with genetics, but whatever.

The Gentek intern had no reason to suspect that anything suspicious happened at the higher levels of the company, despite the whispers of the scientists when some suits showed up sometimes. If she ever encountered any breaches, it was in her university science lab, because her precious E. Coli samples she worked on kept getting contaminated. Her poor babies.

Gentek was the dream. Young Layla always wanted to work with genetics, even from the age where others were no doubt dreaming of being a movie star or a princess. So, even if a cramped apartment in Woodhaven, Queens was far from her dream home, there was no way she'd pass down this opportunity. She knew she was gonna get hired soon enough. After she finished her years of school, obviously.

Two hours later, when Layla was in the middle of swimming and sorting through piles and piles of clothing strewn everywhere, her phone finally buzzed. If she had shame like any other person, she'd be embarrassed by how quick she whipped out her phone, read Julian's text announcing his arrival, and replied for him to meet her at the closest Starbucks.

Finally, the day can actually start.

Julian wasn't surprised when Layla got there earlier. What Julian didn't understand was how did she already get two cups of coffee and a thing of croissants, all already growing cold, when there had been a huge line of pedestrians waiting for their fix.

"Layla!" Julian called out, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling with nervousness as he approached her table.

Layla sprung up from her chair, and tackled the boy with a hug. 

"What is fucking up?!" The little scientist bellowed. 

The city folk paid no attention, yet Julian still had to shake off the feeling of judgmental gazes as he quickly ripped away from Layla's embrace and collapsed in a chair next to hers.

"Well, I'm glad to be here." Julian breathed, shaking off his nerves about the flight. "Is New York actually any good?"

"Kind of, yeah." Layla smiled, sliding a coffee his way. "The lights are pretty, definitely. But, hey, you missed it!"

Julian gulped down his coffee, then turned up a brow.

"... Missed what?" He blinked.

"This huge scare at a train station? Chemical leak, I think? Apparently everyone in there died." She wiggled her hands, her voice dropping an octave on the last word to sound dramatic.

Julian tilted his head. If an entire station of people died in New York, how come he's never heard about it? And why did Layla bring this up now anyway?

He knew better than to question why this wasn't bothering her, though.

"Huh. Sounds like some shit." He commented, leaning back and taking a croissant. On the way there, he saw one or two marines patrolling the streets. He shrugged it off, though. There was always something happening in New York, he figured. As he drank, his eyes wandered off to the huge line of pedestrians waiting for their Starbucks coffee. 

He nearly spit his own out when he spotted no other than Waldo and Flora waiting in the line. Julian slammed his fist on the table and glared out of the window.

"What? What are you looking at?" Layla questioned.

"Bunch of hipsters I go to school with. No shit they'd be here. Even though they talk shit about the 'sheeple who spend hours in line for an overpriced product by a big enslaving cooperation.'" He sighed. "Damn travesty."

"Well, lets not worry about hipsters and capitalism right now." Layla laughed. "C'mon, lets go. I've already planned for the day."

The two took their belongings and headed out of the Starbucks. They made idle conversation as they walked down the block, and things were going just fine. People made their way past them. Tourists and civilians alike, all huddling through the streets and avoiding quick traffic. There was also the occasional Marine, a rifle in his grasp. Julian was a bit taken back at first, but Layla thought nothing of it. A businessman huddled past them, eyes trained on the two as he had a phone up on his ear. That's when he knocked into Julian. Roughly. That wasn't any simple push.

But before Julian could parse what happened, the guy was gone already.

"Man, that dude was on a mission." Layla joked.

"Coulda' still watched where he was going." Julian sighed.

The two hailed a taxi into NYC proper - Manhattan. That was where Gentek was, after all, and Layla planned to show him around the facility. But even though her eagerness in the sciences, she remembered the more artistic pursuits and planned to sit down with Julian at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Nearing Central Park, Julian brought up stopping at the park for more casual inspiration. Leaving the taxi, the two crossed 59th Street and ventured into the two-and-a-half mile long zone of grass and trees and what-fucking-ever. He was meant to sketch out whatever caught his eye, he thought. Drawing from observation of nature, and all that stuff.

"Let's head to a spot where no one else is." She suggested. "Peace and quiet and originality."

Settling next to the lake at the very south of Central Park, Julian and Layla sat down near some trees. Sketchpads were fished out of backpacks and the pair got to drawing. Its been long while since Layla could sit down and doodle due to her other pursuits. As for Julian, its been a hot minute since he had a clear enough mind to draw anything thanks to his cocktail of mental illnesses. 

Focused on the natural scene before him, he didn't think much about the shadow that passed overhead. Probably just a bird, he had figured.

"So, Layla, are you at all stressed out by -"

He cut himself off short when he turned to look at the girl. Her expression was one of shock, gazing up at the sky. Concerned, Julian tapped her shoulder. "Hey? Layla? What are you staring-"

He was cut off once again when he heard the arguing voices of two, all-too-familiar, pretentious jackasses.

"Babe, I'm tired of walking!" Flora whined, tugging at Waldo's jacket sleeve. "Let's sit down!"

"Then don't wear heels next time! We cant sit down now! I haven't found the perfect spot!" Waldo protested, his voice booming and scaring away a flock of birds. That finally seemed to make Layla snap out of her strange, staring spell.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Julian breathed. Out of all of the places in New fuckin' York...

"What was that?" Layla blinked. "Should we go?"

"It was the danger duo." Julian replied flatly. "And not yet. I haven't finished my sketch. We'll ditch soon though." He loathed the idea of seeing them more than he had to.

The two were expecting to have more unpleasant background noise for the time being, courtesy of Waldo and Flora. But sooner than Julian was expecting it, their voices were fading away. The last thing Julian could make out of them was Waldo yelling about the military and what not, which was nothing Julian was surprised by but made Layla laugh. 

But suddenly, his voice was cut short, like he vanished completely instead of just leaving earshot. The silence was followed by the sounds of footsteps rustling through the grass, and Julian couldn't help but back up against his tree, eyes wide. Was someone coming for them? Something was coming. Or was he just hallucinating again? Suddenly...

"RUN, DUDE!" Waldo cried in a shrill voice, running past them. Flora was running right after, her heeled boots in her hands as she tried to shuffle through the grass, squealing. Layla leaned forward, trying to scope out what they were running from.

It was a soldier in black fatigues and a gas mask. And there was a rifle in his hands, and he was aiming it right towards -

"JULIAN, RUN!" Layla cried, jumping up to her feet and grabbing the shocked Julian's wrist, pulling him along as she broke out into a sprint. Panic rose in both of them. What happened? What the fuck did Waldo do>!

Julian and Layla didn't know where they were going. Just out of here. They ran until they were sure nothing was tailing them anymore, coming back into the concrete jungle full of cars and tall buildings and out of the park where strange shadows and footsteps could surround them. Out of breath, they rested their hands on their knees and tried to fill their lungs back with air, gaining the strange looks of people around them. Layla and Julian shared a glance together, and the boy closed his eyes, letting a curse or twelve escape from him.

"Ok, what the fuck was that? Where the fuck did that Chernobyl looking bitch come from?!" Julian exclaimed.

"Calm down." Layla tried to console. "Maybe it was some weirdo with a toy gun. Don't worry." She actually had her own ideas, but knowing what Julian's mind was like...

This time though, maybe his paranoia was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw in case you think you might recognize julian and layla, im that dude who posted that drawing of alex telling them and heller "ok so obviously we all want to die but we have to get through this"


	3. Chapter 3

Lots of things escalated.

With me? A petty confrontation that I wanted to run away from. That wasn't important. Not compared to what was about to happen to us later

And I definitely wouldn't have expected to be right in the middle of it.

 

After that odd run-in of sorts with the gas masked fellow, Julian and Layla decided to get to the MoMA. But with that being said, Julian couldn't help but freeze like a startled deer every time they spotted a Marine on patrol. What was with all of these military folk he was seeing? Waldo and Flora meanwhile weren't anywhere to be seen. And Julian didn't have any remorse when he felt thankful for this. In fact, he laughed to himself for a second. Where's Waldo?, he thought. He fished through his messenger bag for his phone, checking any messages from his grandma or anyone else.

"Hey, Julian?" Layla spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"I saw something weird back there."

Julian couldn't help but scoff. "You mean other than the gas mask bastard about to blow our brains out?" He rolled his eyes as he put his phone back into the bag.

Layla frowned.

"No, not that. Something else from before. While you were still drawing.... And how do you know he was gonna 'blow our brains out?'" She added.

"Because you don't aim a gun unless with the exact, without-a-doubt purpose to shoot." Julian responded. "Or at least, you're not supposed to." He added with a murmur, gaze drifting off.

"Really? How do you know this?"

"Um, just tell me what's on your mind."

Layla took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to word everything. She knew that Julian was going to doubt her, even though he was clinically the one with delusions. That was just his nature. But she didn't want to keep it in.

"So, while you were sketching out the lake, there was... something above us. It was too big to be a bird, but also the branches of the trees were in the way and it kind of went above the treeline? And -"

"Just tell me what you saw."

"It was a person, Julian." Layla declared. "Someone had jumped in from who-knows, and soared over the trees. And I didn't hear it land."

Julian assessed this deeply, his expression changing to one of thought. He slowed to a complete stop, staring ahead at the traffic before him. Layla braced for the boy to dismiss her claim as imagination...

"So that thing above us was a person." Julian restated. Layla looked at him, eyes wide behind her glasses. He actually... believed her? A grin spread on the intern's face.

"Yes!" She exclaimed. "Okay, so, like I said. Somehow, someone -"

"...Flew? You think a person flew?" Julian interrupted. Then, he sighed. "It wasn't a friggin' person, Layla. People can't fly."

Oh, so he was going to be an ass about this. So much for that, then...

She didn't feel like wasting any more of her breath. After all, she had just got out of running for her life. Layla huffed, and began walking again - at a slow pace, of course. "Forget I said anything." She muttered. 

Instead of heading over to the museum, they ended up going back on their own word just minutes after making it by making a detour to McDonalds. Layla insisted that they needed the energy. Meanwhile, she was thinking they needed the comfort that only fast food could provide.

Julian however eyed the place with ire. "Oh, great. A McDonalds. I'm really blown away, quite frankly. We don't have those in Seattle."

"I'm on a budget." Layla deadpanned.

Layla was a stress eater. She bought three entire meals for herself, and Julian mooched off some fries from her. For a tiny Chinese woman, she could really eat a lot. The boy found himself lowering his fries to watch his friend stuff down everything.

"What're you staring at?" Layla questioned.

"What're you staring at?" Julian oh-so-cleverly responded.

"You don't have to look at me while I'm eating!"

"I thought we'd just drop by for a thing of McNuggets or some shit." Julian grunted, his expression uneasy and his gaze going left and right as they sat at the small table.

"What's the rush? Did you want to go to that museum that bad?" She quirked a brow.

"No, it's just..." He rest his chin in his hand. "I feel uneasy. Don't wanna be in this place full of strangers anymore."

Layla couldn't help but laugh a little. "That's New York in a nutshell, Julian. How about we head to Times Square, huh? They say you'll see people who look just like three of your friends in there. That might make you feel better."

The boy rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

The chattering of a few customers caught Julian's attention when they walked in.

"You see all those trucks at the Metropolitan?" Someone in a group was saying. "They're setting up barricades right now. I really don't get what that chemical spill has to do with anything."

"What did they say?" Someone questioned.

"That it wasn't a civilian zone." Someone in the group had responded, tone hard.

"What? How come?" Layla interjected in the strangers' conversation, adjusting her glasses. Not caring if nobody else knew who she was. They denied any further understanding, but did bring up there was 'an explosion this morning at the Renalia building in the Upper East Side.' Which was probably unrelated.

Layla looked back to Julian. "Well. Once again, no art." She mumbled.

It was much to Layla's surprise when Julian abruptly slammed his fists into the table. "Julian? What's- "

"I..." Julian stared down at his hands, shaking his head. "I... Fucking. Forgot. My sketchbook."

"You forgot it? But you had it with you when-" She cut herself off. Then, she gave a low whistle. "Dang. I don't know what sucks more. That you lost it, or that it took you this long to realize you didn't have it anymore."

"Thanks, Layla. For your friendship and your support." Julian deadpanned.

When they finished eating, Julian was hoping he could finally get some rest. He was fighting it off, but, the truth was that he was exhausted. He fished through his bag for the millionth time as if his sketchbook would magically appear in it.

"You don't even fill out your drawing pads. Just buy a new one." Layla spoke. She was only greeted with an incoherent mutter. The intern frowned. "You really miss it that much?"

Julian sighed. "It's not that. I'm tired."

"Then sleep, silly."

He responded with silence.

"I'm gonna walk." Julian announced. Before Layla could stop him, he grabbed his bag, slung the strap over his shoulder, and was out of the doorway. 

Julian was impulsive. Even after that scare in a city he's never been in before, he'd be overcome with the feeling to wander. Maybe he was hoping it would kill him one day.

The gentle breeze of twilight welcomed him. The sights had to look ten times better when it was dark. Julian watched his breath unfurl from his lips. Despite all of the traffic and all the busy-bodies, he felt that it was peaceful. Like there was nothing else except for him and this city maze. 

And lo and behold, someone had completely shattered that illusion. Just as Julian was traveling down the sidewalk of some hotel, he heard someone squawking on her phone. Her voice was cacophonous, and she was approaching Julian's way. It was a familiar girl with scraggly, unwashed blue hair and large-framed glasses, on the other end of another meaningless argument. Flora scarcely noticed Julian as she briskly walked right past him.

The boy raised a brow, and threw his head over his shoulder, ceasing his walk and following the girl with his eyes. Did she see him at all? It looked to him that she was blissfully unaware of everything and everyone. And he could only guess that she was arguing with Waldo. He continued to keep watch of Flora. The girl stopped on the sidewalk, squawked some more, and turned to her left, eyes ahead on the sidewalk at the other side of the street. She began crossing the street, and -

"Watch out!" Julian yelled as he sprinted towards the girl before she could step foot on the asphalt concrete, seizing her by the wrist and yanking her back, the speeding car whizzing by just in front of her nose. Flora screeched, dropping her phone from her ear and staring ahead, heart beating dangerously in her chest. When she finally got her bearings straight, she turned around and stared at Julian, eyes wide. She pressed a hand against her chest, and tried to calm her breathing, looking back down.

Julian wondered if Flora was just going to pant there for the next hour, and was just about to walk off until she opened her mouth.

"Oh my god, Julian, you saved me!" She exclaimed. Her phone was still in her hand, hovering near her, but she didn't look like she was concerned with filling in Waldo with the details of what just happened.

Julian scratched the back of his neck. "I guess?"

"I would have died! Oh my god, thank you."

"Don't make it weird." Julian grunted. Despite saving her from death, or at least a hospital visit, he still didn't like her. And he wasn't expecting her to get out of her way to suddenly start feeling thankful for him or anything. He turned on his heel and walked off.

"Wait, where are ya' going?" She called after him, catching up to the boy.

Julian made a pained expression and mustered enough lucidity to continue talking. "I just said don't make it weird." Looking left and right, his gaze landed on her phone. "Um, didn't you have someone you were calling?" He pointed out.

Flora blinked. "Right!" She exclaimed, placing her phone at her ear. "Babe?" She asked. She didn't expect for Waldo to only respond with a string of expletives.

"Fuck you! Fuck you!" Waldo yelled on the other side, then hung up.

Julian paused. Jesus, the hell did he do that for? The dude's girlfriend nearly died. "Hey, uh, actually... Are you gonna be okay?" Julian asked.

Flora gave a short laugh. "Pfft, he's fine. He always yells like that, dude."

"Notice how I wasn't asking about him."

The girl pushed up her glasses. "I'll be fine. It was just a car, and it didn't even hit me."

That still wasn't what Julian meant, but he sighed. Maybe her unexpectedly showing up was God or whoever's way of telling him he needed to be grounded by reality right now. He felt bad about leaving Layla so suddenly, but... 

"What're we doing here?" She asked.

Julian exhaled sharply. "What are you doing here?" 

"Why are you acting like that? You're usually nice." Flora expressed.

Why are you following me around? You're usually echoing whatever insult Waldo throws at me, Julian wanted to retort. But instead, he ignored her, and began stumbling off. He was going to give this girl a good talking-to once he got his bearings straight. Tell her that just because he pulled her away from traffic didn't mean they had to be all buddy-buddy now. It's not that he liked being bullied by the pair of pretentious art hipsters, but he didn't want Flora to go out of her way to try and make whatever up for him.

Plus, she smelled bad.

"I wanted to have some pizza, but Waldo didn't. I decided that I really wanted the pizza though. So I'm here." Flora finally answered. "Please come with me?"

Julian just ate, but with a resigned sigh, he went with her into the pizza place. But after thirty minutes of being there and zoning out while Flora ate, he mustered enough awareness of his surroundings to get up and perform his patented move of running away from the problem without a goodbye. 

Unfortunately, it would seem that he ran right into the problem. Exiting the door, he saw a man with a scarf over his scraggly beard and a bun in his hair exit a cab. Julian could only lament that he didn't run away fast enough. Before he knew it, Waldo seized him by the wrist, and dragged him along as he strode right towards Flora in front of the pizza place.

"The hell were you two doing together?" He barked.

Julian tried to pull away from his grip. But apparently, Waldo had intense workouts from having to carry his shitty opinions everywhere with him. "Flora, I said, what were you two doing together?"

"Let go of him, babe! We weren't doing anything!" Flora spoke up, tying her fingers together in front of her in a pleading expression. Julian finally freed himself from Waldo's grip, and stumbled back, trying to get himself back together.

"Shut up! You didn't even talk to me for an hour! It's like you don't even care about me anymore!" Waldo claimed, his voice loud and shaky.

Both Julian and Flora were at a loss of words. It was probably the first time the two held any sort of common ground when it came to her boyfriend. The pair had always acted like a singular entity. It didn't occur to Julian just how possessive Waldo actually was.

Julian shook his head. "How did you even know where we were?"

"I'm tracking her phone, idiot! Now answer me! What the hell were you doing with her?"

"You what?!" Flora exclaimed. "Babe, you were tracking my phone? But... Why? Don't you trust me?"

Waldo seethed, face completely red. "NOT ANYMORE!" He spat. "I thought you were different!" As the confrontation continued, pedestrians tried to hurry along, not giving the three any of their attention. Best to stay out of it, they were thinking. "It turns out you're just some slut who play around with third-rate posers!" Waldo accused.

Flora stumbled back, eyes wide.

Okay, was this shit even happening? Now, Julian had to add this entire fiasco as yet another thing he was at fault for. And he hated dramatic situations like this. The last thing he expected to do was get involved with Waldo and Flora's relationship. But... he couldn't help but ball his hands into tight fists as he heard those words spill out of that hipster's disgusting mouth.

It was at that moment, Julian felt like he finally had a reason to do something. Like he was alive.

"Shouldn't you be getting lost somewhere, Waldo?" Julian spat, still rubbing his wrist.

Waldo turned around, eyes narrowed behind his glasses.

"What did you say to me?"

He strode towards Julian.

And despite himself, Julian had been backing away, his breath catching in his throat.

"N-nothing!" He yelped. So much for being brave.

Now he had done it. The taller man had moved to swing his arm, and Julian was sure that it was going to hurt. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that somehow, that would ease the pain.

But the blow didn't come.

Julian opened his eyes, his expression wary. What was the hold-up?

And the hold-up ended up being a 5'5", petite Chinese woman with cat-eye glasses. She had Waldo pinned against a telephone pole, his collar seized and his nose bleeding. And it was as if everyone of the apathetic New York populace was watching this time.

"L-Layla?" Julian sputtered.

"You should really know how to stick up for yourself, Jules!" Layla responded.

"Never mind all that!" Julian shook his head. "Let's get the hell outta dodge!" He ran past all of the involved parties, heading back to the hotel. Layla shook her head, punched Waldo one more time, and ran after him. When she had caught up, both of them slowed down and approached the hotel doors.

"Thanks for the convenient rescue." Julian rubbed the back of her neck.

"It wasn't THAT convenient. I followed you."

"You what?"

"Hey, I was worried! At least I'm not a stalker-in-a-manbun who tracks your phone!" Layla pointed out. "Anyway, what were you thinking? You know you shouldn't try to be alone right now!" 

Julian exhaled. "Fair enough," He decided. "But I didn't expect for you to wild out on him."

Layla merely shrugged.

Since the museum was out of bounds, they needed a new distraction.

"I figured out what we're going to do tonight." Layla chimed.

"What?"

"I'll show you my workplace!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i swear alex will show up eventually. or maybe he already has? ,':^)


End file.
